A social fear adolescents with and without a Social Anxiety Disorder experience very frequently is public speaking anxiety. The cognitions these adolescents have in public speaking situations play...Show moreA social fear adolescents with and without a Social Anxiety Disorder experience very frequently is public speaking anxiety. The cognitions these adolescents have in public speaking situations play an important role in the development and maintenance of their anxiety. Because of the impairments they experience in life, it is important to start treatment. The fact that only a small proportion of adolescents with social fears receive the focussed treatment they need, and that treatment outcomes are not optimal, is problematic. Blended care, the combination of face-to-face and online therapy, is a new type of treatment that appears to be promising for the treatment of mental health problems. This study aimed to research the feasibility of the blended care module ‘’Skills for Academic and Social Success’’ for treating adolescents with public speaking anxiety. Changes in cognitions and effects of comorbid depression were also explored. A total of 41 adolescents between 11 and 17 years, recruited from high schools in Leiden, The Netherlands, participated in this study. These adolescents followed the blended care module and were asked to, among others, fill out different self-report questionnaires on public speaking anxiety (PRPSA), cognitions (CATS-N/P) and depression (CDI-2) at four timepoints. The results show that the adolescents showed a decrease in public speaking anxiety during treatment. A higher level of anxiety at the start of the treatment was associated with a higher level afterwards, but also with greater, absolute improvements. Comorbid depression was also associated with a greater, absolute reduction in public speaking anxiety and there was a decrease in depression as well. The results also show that public speaking anxiety was negatively correlated with positive cognitions and positively with different types of negative cognitions. Some of these negative cognitions decreased during the treatment and were replaced with positive cognitions. However, there was almost no association between changes in cognitions and changes in public speaking anxiety. According to these findings, the blended care module appears to be feasible for the treatment of adolescents with public speaking anxiety, of which cognitions are part, and suitable for different levels of anxiety and for when comorbid depression is present.Show less
During Adolescence significant developmental changes take place. One of these noticeable changes is an increase in risk-taking behavior such as drinking, smoking, reckless driving, and gambling....Show moreDuring Adolescence significant developmental changes take place. One of these noticeable changes is an increase in risk-taking behavior such as drinking, smoking, reckless driving, and gambling. Engaging in high-risk activities can result into dangerous and harmful consequences. Therefore, it is important to understand which factors or personality traits underly the increased risk-taking behavior in adolescents to help prevent those potentially harmful consequences. In this study the relationship between intolerance of ambiguity (ITA) and risk-taking behavior among adolescents aged 14-25 is explored. Although the relationship between intolerance to ambiguity and risk-taking behavior among adolescents has been researched before, these studies show contradictory results, revealing both positive and negative associations between intolerance to ambiguity and risk-taking. Furthermore, this research also focused on exploring the potential mediating effect of risk perception as a previous study suggested that adolescents who perceive more risks may show lower levels of risk-taking behavior. The role of gender also has been analyzed as a moderator expecting that males engage in more risk-taking behavior A sample of 98 adolescents from various educational institutions participated by completing self-report questionnaires assessing tolerance for ambiguity and risk perception, and they also completed the wheel of fortune task which measures risk-taking behavior. Mediation analysis using the PROCESS macro in SPSS was conducted to analyze whether risk perception mediates the relationship between intolerance to ambiguity and risk-taking behavior. Additionally, moderation analysis was performed to investigate gender differences. Results indicated that a higher level of intolerance to ambiguity is associated with lower risk-taking. The mediation effect of risk perception could not be statistically proven. However, we found that a higher level of intolerance to ambiguity was associated with a lower level of risk perception. Moderation analysis showed a marginal gender effect suggesting that males tend to engage more in risk-taking behavior compared to females. This study highlights the significant role of intolerance to ambiguity in relation to adolescents' risk-taking behavior, with higher intolerance linked to increased risk-taking. While risk perception did not mediate this relationship, the findings underscore the complexity of the factors involved and the necessity for further research. Future research should employ longitudinal designs with an evenly distributed samples over the age groups and genders to better capture the dynamics of risk perception and tolerance for ambiguity over time. This approach will provide deeper insights into the developmental aspects of risk-taking behavior and inform more effective prevention strategies.Show less
This study examined differences in prosocial giving behavior of gifted and nongifted young adolescents towards five targets (a friend, disliked person, a stranger, and the participant’s father and...Show moreThis study examined differences in prosocial giving behavior of gifted and nongifted young adolescents towards five targets (a friend, disliked person, a stranger, and the participant’s father and mother), and the effects of perspective taking. 93 Dutch students between the ages of 9 and 12 were assessed using the Perspective Taking scale of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index, and the Prosocial Donation task, a donation game in which participants divided ten coins between themselves and various targets. Findings showed that gifted young adolescents showed less prosocial giving towards their mother than nongifted young adolescents. No difference in prosocial giving behavior was found between gifted and nongifted young adolescents towards the other targets (a friend, a disliked person, a stranger, and the participant’s father). Gifted young adolescents overall donated an equal number of coins as their nongifted peers, despite differentiating differently across targets. Furthermore, participants showed more prosocial giving behavior towards friends than strangers, which supports previous findings involving prosocial giving behavior and ingroup-outgroup differentiation. Contrary to expectations, perspective taking did not have an effect on the level of prosocial giving in young adolescents – neither gifted nor nongifted, and no difference in perspective taking was found between gifted and nongifted young adolescents. These findings show that gifted young adolescents are not so dissimilar from their nongifted peers. Our results challenge false stereotypes of gifted youth as possessing characteristic social and emotional problems. This study expanded on previous research by including giftedness and examining prosocial giving behavior to parents. Future research into prosocial giving behavior of early adolescents could include even more detailed assessments of interpersonal relationships between participants and their parents.Show less
The present study examined the relationship between dysfunctional parenting and pro-social behaviour in children and analysed the role of parent and child gender in this. A total of 238 children...Show moreThe present study examined the relationship between dysfunctional parenting and pro-social behaviour in children and analysed the role of parent and child gender in this. A total of 238 children participated in the Pro-social Cyberball Game, which is an experimental task to measure pro-social behaviour. Their primary parents completed the Parenting Scale, a questionnaire to assess use of dysfunctional parenting practices. A general linear model was performed. Differences in pro-social behaviour between boys and girls were examined and no significant difference was found. Contrary to our hypothesis which stated that more dysfunctional parenting would be related to less pro-social children, results were not significant. We examined this effect in several groups: comparing primary parents who are male to those who are female, and comparing families where primary parent and child belong to the same gender (same-gender dyads) to families where primary parent and child were of opposite gender (mixed-gender dyads). In our sample there was no difference in the way a parent influences his/her child’s pro-social behaviour, between mothers and fathers. Also, there was no difference in the effect of dysfunctional parenting on child’s pro-social behaviour, between same-gender and mixed-gender dyads. The present study contributes to clarifying alleged boy-girl and father-mother differences in pro-social behaviour and the effect of dysfunctional parenting on pro-sociality. The discussion reviewed the influence of gender norms in parenting and child behaviour and implications of these results.Show less
Attraction is a bodily feeling that most of us have likely felt before. This feeling is considered highly important when choosing a potential partner. Thus, plethora of studies have focused on...Show moreAttraction is a bodily feeling that most of us have likely felt before. This feeling is considered highly important when choosing a potential partner. Thus, plethora of studies have focused on uncovering the features that people generally find attractive, such as genuine smiles, coy smiles and provocative clothing. However, the role of personal characteristics that may also influence one’s level of attraction towards these features remains not well understood. In the present thesis, I examine one such characteristic, namely adult attachment style and its effect on attraction. Following the exclusion criteria, nineteen (N = 20; 9 men; 12 women; 7 securely attached; 4 avoidantly attached; 9 anxiously attached) participants were included in this study. Participants were presented with a series of videos of opposite-sex individuals dressed in either conservative or provocative clothing and exhibiting neutral expressions, genuine smiles and coy smiles. They filled in several questionnaires, including the Adult Attachment Questionnaire (AAQ). In line with the expectations, it was found that genuine smiles were rated as significantly more attractive, compared to neutral expressions. Contrary to my expectations, no significant effects were found of coy smiles, clothing or attachment style on initial attraction. Future research may benefit from replication of this thesis with optional improvements, such as a larger sample size, the adoption of Adult Attachment Interview methods (AAI), greater differences between provocative and conservative clothing conditions and a naturalistic setting.Show less
